down the rabbit hole

I've always enjoyed reading and visiting libraries. About a week ago I was planning to stop in and pickup a another book. The library was closed until further notice.  I didn't think the coronavirus would affect our library. We have nice library but our village is small and I haven't experienced large crowds there. Is this closing going to help much?

My wife (one-who-knows-where-stuff-be) brought up a box of our youngest daughter's books. Now this daughter is in her mid-thirties now. Why we have a box of her books is another story for another post (maybe).

Digging through the books I noticed Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". I've heard much about these adventures but never actually read the book. So I jumped down the rabbit hole.

certainly a not-yet-retired rabbit

I've used the expression "down the rabbit hole" a few times during my career. Not too unusual for someone at a meeting to reply to a suggestion with we don't want to go down that rabbit hole right now. Unless you are the rabbit, nobody is sure where the rabbit hole comes out.

Lewis Carroll created a very strange world down there. Coronavirus is creating a strange world up here. Certainly the surreal things in this book do not have the seriousness of the surreal closed down world this pandemic has thrown at us. But surreal is surreal.

I read a little of it at night as I fall asleep. I think it affects my dreams but my dreams typically are very strange.

The puzzling logical dialogue and puns are fun. There was a conversation about school and lessons. The first lesson was 10 hours, the next 9 hours and so on. The mock turtle explains that's why they are called lessens.

Has the stay at home environment given you a chance to read any classics? 
 





via GIPHY

The Shedd Aquarium in Chicago had to close so now they let the penguins take field trips around the empty aquarium. I'm just as confused as this little guy.





Lastly here's a tune I have not heard in awhile.

tricks treats do you have them

Most of this post was written back in 2015 for Halloween that year. So excuse me if I recycle this post. Most of my thoughts are recycled.

We still enjoy Halloween in our neighbor. Luckily there are young kids around and a couple of our grandkids come by too. There was a period after our kids were becoming adults, the number of young trick-or-treaters noticeably dropped off. It seems the number is back on the rise again.

Of course, Halloween celebrating has changed over the years. If you would like to read/discuss the Halloween changes check out Pam's blog post - the link.

I dropped the old man in our porch chair for Halloween

In the paper (you know that thing you can read but comes from natural trees and doesn't need to be plugged in) today there was a story about Halloween in this one Chicago neighborhood where the local churches bus the kids in.  Homes can get a 1000 or more visitors. Too much traffic I think but it would be an event to see the street filled with costumed kids.

In the story the term "Halloween hater" was used. I guess they are out there but I don't understand why anyone would be a Halloween hater.  Yeah, you might not get into the spirit of spirits and costumes but a hater? I suspect anyone like that probably hates kids too.

Halloween should be fun and enjoyed.

Our youngest much more than a decade ago

The guy passing out candy in this youtube clip has much more patience than me. He does manage to scare a few kids. Funny - I think the oddest thing about the clip is a guy wearing a pumpkin on his head for that long.





There is something happening this weekend much scarier than the ghosts, skeletons, and political characters out on Halloween - Daylight savings change disaster arrives Sunday morning. Be prepared.


 

Life should be easy

If you are reading this you must be alive. (pondering if the afterlife has access to the internet might be a future post) Oh yeah, being alive doesn’t equate to living easy. Warning, this is just some musing from a fool on the hill that noticed the world spinning around. Don’t expect too much and you wouldn’t be disappointed at the end.

Recently I read a book, “A Million Years in a Day”. Now this book is not a guide to enjoying life. The author, Greg Jenner, (a Brit with degrees in history) gives us the history of our day-to-day activities. Food, sleeping, clothes, hygiene (he covers this the most I found), housing, communication, etc. It was enjoyable to read.

It should come as no surprise that living in the past was much tougher for the common person. Go back far enough and a common person today lives a longer easier life than even a rich person back then. On average life spans have increased in most places. Health care costs keep rising but go back far enough and there was little or no care at any cost. So has life gotten easier?

climbing to see more

Maybe not

Maybe having extra time everyday because we don’t need to hunt or grow our next meal while keeping another eye out for creatures that want to eat us just makes daily life more complicated. More time to worry about stuff.

Our planning stress increased. Communications have sped up and can reach around the whole planet. No news is good news?

First world problems:

Stressing over the tough decision on pizza toppings.
So many craft beers to choose from.
Finding a good parking space.
(Please add your own in the comments if you like)

One subject area I have the advantage of looking back on and have often thought about is parenting. Bringing a new generation to our world is a very special thing. I like to think it always has been. However, I suspect planned parenthood was unknown for 1000’s of years unless you count the planning the royals did for producing the next king. Today I think it's over planned and people are shocked and upset when the universe doesn't follow their plan. Now medical technology has given most of us another thing to plan. I should say “try to” plan.

The word “control” in birth control is deceptive. Seems like birth prevention would be a better term since the conception part is much trickier to achieve. Also even after conception the birth has a risk of not happening.

In addition to the parents, the development of the next generation involves the whole community. Maybe those tribal settings in the ancient past were a better solution for raising the next generation.

Conclusion - not really just guesses

What’s the answer to the big secret of life? I don’t know. I just live here. Could it be that life is always tough no matter how it changes? A new type of swamp with new different types of creatures trying to bite you in the ass.

A change would do you good

Really?

Sheryl Crow co-wrote and sang this advice back in 1997. Now if any of you have extra change please send it my way. Of course, that’s not the type of change the song is about (but it would do me good).

My favorite line from this song is:

“Hello it's me, I'm not at home,
If you'd like to reach me, leave me alone”

Great answer machine greeting, but very few still have answer machines today and even fewer leave voice messages. It changed.

my butterfly friend

It seems change happens quicker than ever before. Do you agree?

It could be I just have more time to observe and think about it. You know, watch the wheel go around.

I know there are times when events make you so busy you don’t have time to notice any change other than the next thing thrown at you. Those extreme busy times can end well. Like a fast spin on the merry-go-round it might make you merry or sick.

No longer riding on the merry-go-round
I just had to let it go

Those words were written by John Lennon. His song, “Watching the Wheels” is about taking it down a few notches, chilling out, relaxing, getting off a merry-go-round operated by an insensitive corporation. Or to put it in a way more applicable to myself - falling off the ladder of success.

Now I started with Sheryl Crow and ended up with John Lennon. It doesn’t seem odd to me at all. If the type of change that would do me good involved less stress and lazy days then I find the two songs go well together. They could be on the same playlist.
(note on my inspiration - I thought of the “Watching the Wheels” song on a visit to Middle Age Ramblings blog)


Here’s the lyrics and a youtube clip of John Lennon’s advice:

People say I'm crazy
doing what I'm doing
Well they give me all kinds of warnings
to save me from ruin
When I say that I'm o.k. well they look at me kind of strange
Surely you're not happy now you no longer play the game
People say I'm lazy
dreaming my life away
Well they give me all kinds of advice
designed to enlighten me
When I tell them that I'm doing fine watching shadows on the wall
Don't you miss the big time boy you're no longer on the ball
I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round
I really love to watch them roll
No longer riding on the merry-go-round
I just had to let it go
Ah, people asking questions
lost in confusion
Well I tell them there's no problem,
only solutions
Well they shake their heads and they look at me as if I've lost my mind
I tell them there's no hurry
I'm just sitting here doing time
I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round
I really love to watch them roll
No longer riding on the merry-go-round
I just had to let it go
I just had to let it go
I just had to let it go

a sign of the times

my dog can't read

no not that sign

Proofreading spelling grammar = good sign

wonderful things to see if you look up

ignore this, the post is so slow you probably stopped already

Wow, I didn't realize I've collected way too many sign pictures over the years. 

What was I going to post? Oh yeah, that big hit game I've never played, Pokemon Go (oh I'm not going to bother to figure out how to put that accent sign on top of the 'e' in Pokemon. I don't even know what it means anyway)

Maybe collecting pokemons is more rewarding than my odd sign pictures collection (I snapped the first and fourth pictures on trips) but I don't think so.

I got my sign picture taking from my mom

From the old-guy-who-put-quarters-into-a-machine to play video games long ago, I say don't do it. You'll get addicted to it and waste too much of your time. Life really can be short, especially if you run into a tree, sideswipe a cop car or cause who knows what type of accident playing with this augmented reality.

Jumping on the bandwagon probably is a phrase too old for the Pokemon Go players to use but I believe that communal feeling is a big driver in attracting new players. They are all doing it and yes past generations have flocked to other "they-are-all-doing-it" things too. This past month the Pokemon Go circus came to town. Actually to towns all over. It doesn’t call itself a circus but I suspect many people might call its players clowns. An unbelievable horde have jumped on the Pokemon Go bandwagon. (I don’t think it even comes with a band or any music either)

From what I've learned from video clips and news reports describing it, I believe the game is non-violent and promotes some outdoor activity. I also heard Angry Birds promoted physics. (I have actually played angry birds a few times. Fun but I couldn't figure out what was addicting about it.) Who knows? Now the birds will be getting even more angry.

Each of us have different views of the world around us which is a good thing. Often I wonder if my view is too tilted because things don’t always look all that straight to me. The first odd thing I noticed about this Pokemon Go craze was all the fake news stories on FB. It’s getting so bad I’m going to start calling it FakeBook.

The Daily Beast posted this interesting story about “the Pokemon Crime Wave”. Taken from the Daily Beast article:

"...But 10,000 people shared that first story on Facebook. More than 64,000 shared the last one. And the Pokémon highway accident? Three hundred eighty-four thousand shares on Facebook in a couple of days.
And none of them are real.
CartelPress is just one part of the Pokésteria. "

FakeBook members love to reshare shocking news without ever reading past the headline.

Now there have been a few real accidents related to Pokemon Go. But more importantly IMHO, is the increase in malware Pokemon related apps. Hackers, are like sharks smelling blood in the water.

Even an electronic store I’ve been know to visit for a gadget or two jump on the bandwagon with a promotion of portable battery smartphone chargers for your Pokemon Go adventures.

I found this next example funny. Funny because I thought back to my own dating days (going steady, wearing someone’s ring, cruising were common activities back then) and thinking if I had suggested a Poke Date to a girl I probably would have felt the slap before I heard the rejection.

So a Chicago startup dating service jumped on the bandwagon too. They are offering Poke Dates. Here’s a story on that one.

show me the money

That’s a bag of shredded money. We picked up a few of them free at the Money museum in Chicago. I did a post about all this dead cash back in 2012.  My wife and I enjoyed a visit to the money museum back then.

While you probably don't think about it often (or ever) the amount and denominations of cash in circulation does need to be managed. Many kids think that mom or dad just need to visit a bank to get cash. I do believe the sooner they learn that the banks are not run by Santa Claus the better.

a million dollars in twenties

Hold on 

- I just accidentally hit the pause button on my stream of thought here -

Often my stream of thought flows nicely without much turbulence. Then boom around the bend I find myself being tossed and splashed through the rapids.  

I had planned to report on a few cash related news stories in this post. Really finding a cash related story is no where near as exciting as finding extra cash (no I didn't just find any extra cash - but if you have some it's always welcomed).

There is still one cash related news story I want to share with you:

Johnny Cash Tarantula 

One of 14 New Spiders

Johnny Cash the tarantula (Aphonopelma johnnycashi) was found near Folsom Prison and it's all black in color. I think Johnny would be honored. If a new animal species were to be named after you what would like it to be?

Myself - a new hairy sloth would be a good fit.

a million dollars in a suitcase better than a tarantula pic?

Sure this song has do wah diddy to do with my original cash/money idea. Blame my iTunes player.

Before I knew it new ideas poppin up in me
Singing do wah diddy diddy down diddy do

Man, I forgot Manfred Mann was the group that had the hit with this.

lets work on this

Bloggers are very creative, so I'm asking the right group.

Later in life (later is a nice relative term) a common occurrence happens when we look at celebrity news. It happens enough that it really needs a name.  A hashtag would be even more useful.

Here's my description of it: You are reading a magazine, a newspaper (ok I know I'm one of few still doing that), or maybe watching the news and it hits you - Celebrity so-and-so is how OLD? When the hell did that happen? Oh shit that means I'm old. It can't be. I remember him/her when they were smoking hot.

Calista Flockhart turned 50 last month. Yanni turned 60 last month (he was in his 40’s last year right?). How is this possible?

Dick Clark at most any age

Dick Clark (died at 82) had a youthful look well into his 70’s. I wondered if he was an alien since he didn’t appear to age.

Whatever we call this it's popular. It's so popular that the first section of my aunt’s AARP magazine that I read is their 'Big 5-oh' page (alright full disclosure - it’s MY AARP magazine). They also list 6-oh 7-oh etc.

So if that celeb news shocked you a little, what do you call that event that just happened to you?

Calling it "oh shit" is not descriptive enough. Here's some of my suggestions:

Ohnocantbe
Denialstop
Timestamped
AARPatize
Celeb Security

As you can see I need some help with this. Please leave your suggestions in the comments.

CC explorer slave trader

Dare I jump into the Columbus Day (or the new counter-celebration name Indigenous Peoples' Day)  controversy?

Painting by Sebastiano del Piombo

Just like life, history is complicated.  Even when I was a kid (almost ancient history) there were different opinions about Chris vs. Leif being the first European explorer "to discover" our continent.  Between these two, Chris certainly had better backing and support.  Also, Chris is endorsed by the Knights of Columbus.

The first people to find our land of course were the ancestors of the native people.  There is no disagreement that they were already living here when Chris and his crew showed up. The archeological evidence suggests that the Paleo-Indians' first "widespread" habitation of the Americas occurred during the end of the last glacial period around 16,500–13,000 years ago.  So even Leif might have met a greeting party had he looked around long enough.

Today the controversy is more about character of the group Chris lead over here.  He had promised his backers plenty of gold.  Face with coming up short he brought back the natives as slaves to be sold.  In today's world Chris would be hunted down for his human trafficking and killing.  But he didn't live in today's world which also offers better ships, communication and GPS navigation.

I think we should celebrate him as an explorer willing to lead his crew into the unknown.  The in-depth study of his exploration should include a discussion/comparison of his actions to currently accepted laws and ethics.  No need to bury it in the sand.


The John Oliver show took a humorous look at this controversial celebration.  He points out the Chris and his crew started the long tradition of obnoxious white people visiting Caribbean islands and acting like they own the place.  I wouldn't argue that point. 

small changes

ch ch changes - remember David Bowie?

Oh look out you rock-n-rollers.

Our recent trip presented us with an unexpected change. Just a minor thing really. On the bathroom scale of problems it was nothing but a small annoyance.

We have been living on a low budget. Actually we have a high amount of time and low amount of cash. We have been stretching out the life of our car. So we agreed to rent a car for our recent trip through three nearby states. We made use of our AARP discount.

picture from Netcarshow.com

I decided to work with a local office of a major rental brand. The office (really just a counter in the lobby of big hotel) was very convenient. Due to its limited size, I discovered the car selection on the day of my reservation was just one car. The other car would have been an upgrade. My selection of ONE was a new (new is good) Fiat 500L. The good news was gas mileage was low to mid 30’s mpg. I’ve never driven any of these Italian cars before.

Practice makes perfect - they say. We have done many road trips over the years.  In preparation for our road trip I packed about 15 CDs of my favorite mixes. She-who-guides-the-way went to our library and checked out a few audio books on CD.  We were prepared in the audio sense.

Recall ten or twenty years ago it was very common to have a cassette player included in your car options? Overtime the cassette option disappeared and the CD player replaced it. Guess what? The CD player has been replaced. Holy smartphone that I don’t own.

Our rental had a nice “media” player with a large touch screen. I just assumed there was a CD slot somewhere in it. There wasn’t. The CD was replaced by choice of audio jack, SD memory slot or USB connector. Fortunately, we had brought along an I-pad and its USB cord. The media player controls worked well with the I-pad. We now have more music loaded into our I-pad.

I would never buy a Fiat 500L. While there were a number of good things, the dislikes outweighed the likes.

trend spotter

The future is around the bend, out of sight. The trend of the road on this bend is a right curve but unless you’ve been down this road more than twice, how do you predict the next change in direction.

Time and money is spent everyday on the task of trend spotting. Knowing what the next big thing will be, can make you some money. Blogging was even a trend once.

I’ve been surprised by many trends, from tattoos to twitter. I’m no trend spotter. My prediction of coming out of this bend in the road onto a nice straight gradual climb could be totally wrong. Instead I will find myself skidding into the bridge-out barricade.

Smartphone usage certainly became a trend in recent years. Do you remember back at the turn of the century (why does that sound like I’m referring to 1900? The last turn was 2000) and the market for the PDA (if you forgot or just missed it - Personal Digital Assistant)? It looked like a trend back then. It didn’t last. Many of the functions moved into smartphones. One feature that worked well on my Microsoft PDA was the handwriting recognition. I don’t understand why that stylus writing technique doesn’t show up in smartphones.

The reason I started rambling on about trends (rambling is not a trend but a habit of mine) is I just read an opinion that said DVDs are out and streaming will replace DVD watching. I don’t think so. My Blue-ray player is not that old and I sure hope to watch more movies with it. However, I have used the streaming feature on the player too.
 
What do I know, I often play music on a CD player.

I’ve changed

But not much. I did a little tweaking to the blog layout. 

Also I updated my “about” page (if you want to know).

"So what?" you reply. Alright, maybe you'll enjoy this:

Comedy Central Stand-Up
Get More: Jokes,Joke of the Day,Funny Jokes

over and over and over again

I picked up a CD of oldies from the library. On it was Barry McGuire’s (I didn’t remember his name) 1965 hit protest song, “Eve Of Destruction”. The lyrics apply to today’s world as much as it did in the sixties. 

History does repeat. 

One line that has unfortunately applied for too long is: 

“...handful of Senators don't pass legislation...” 

I could pick out many more similarities but it is easier for you just to listen to it. I found this recent performance of the song by Barry McGuire himself on youtube. (first minute is him telling the story of the song) 



I agree with the phrase he added at the end of his recent live version: 

When will we ever learn?

easy question answer not so

Jene over at The Original Bean posted her latest song challenge.

A simple question really.  Post a song from the year you were born.  

Of course no one remembers much of any thing from their first year and maybe that's good.  What guy would want to remember a common event like a circumcision?  But lets get back to the song challenge.

I had found (and posted about it) a web site that makes it easy to find a song for a given date.  Since I had posted about this checking a day in music history before I thought that reposting that one would be too easy.

Then I noticed something.  The top song didn't change very often back then.  I started to realize the music industry was much different then and much smaller.  Not quite as bad as the golden years of radio but music listening was not the iTunes of today either.  However, Jene is young enough that she could of done a music video from her birth year.

LP albums (33 1/3 speed) were barely around during my birth year.  Billboard didn't come out with the Top 100 chart until 1958.  The heavy metal was limited to physics labs.  Anyone going around calling themselves the "Sex Pistols" would have been arrested.

We were still a decade away from being psychedelic.

But I found an interesting hit song from 1953.

Not grunge.

Not alternative.

Not hard rock.

Not gangster rap.

How about a kid's song (what's the chance of that today?).

Number 1 on the US Billboard Magazine chart for 8 weeks -  "How Much is that Doggie in the Window" by Patti Page (who is STILL performing and has a web site).

washing Wednesday

Well it’s still Tuesday but don’t you wish you were a day early for washing?

Today my birthday presents came!

Such excitement - a new washer and dryer. As a bonus birthday treat I was allowed to install them. (saved about $90).

After connecting gas and water hoses, I was very ready to hit the start button.

Before I get ahead of myself, I should tell you what I’m dealing with. Pretty basic models from Whirlpool. The soon-to-be-scrap metal units were about 15 years old (not real sure since we never celebrated their birthdays). They were also Whirlpools.

My wife had heard horror (that’s too strong of an adjective, there was no blood or decapitated bodies in the stories) stories about the newer computerized units in which I believe you can play a DVD. No, she wanted simple turn the dial and push a button type (like me?). Also, she wanted top loading with agitator so that narrowed the selection. I like simple too but honestly the idea of maybe connecting the washing machine to the internet with Wi-Fi is sort of exciting.

Ok - back to “hit the start button”.

My first check I planned was to be water temperature selection, so I thought, I’ll just fill it with some water and check. Twisted the selector knob and push the button. Nothing. The old one would let you load while the water was filling. You could even watch the agitator churn the clothes. Hours of entertainment. The old one died a slow death because one day the agitator became very mellow and barely moved.

Hmm, I’m guessing new safety features on this one (damn government regulations) so I closed the lid. Click, Red Light. Oh, the lid is locked. Still no water.

DAMN NOW I need to open the instruction booklet and find the English section.

• Section - How to wash clothes
• Step 1 - sort and prepare clothes - OH c’mon, really, why not start with WEAR CLOTHES UNTIL DIRTY!
• Step 2 - add detergent
• Step 3 - add clothes - Now this is interesting, as mention above we would add detergent, clothes with the water filling in the past.

So at this point I decide I need a plan B. I’ll check the operation with some actual clothes. Add clothes, detergent, make selection, shut lid, and press start. Some noise but NO sound of water running. Double check hoses and shut off values. Everything looks good. Then I hear water filling - yes! It appears to have a long delay before the water starts.

But how will I know the water temperature matches the selection if it goes through the whole cycle? Look at manual - pick up manual - actually read some part of manual.

If you need to open the lid (they offer the explanation that you forgot an article of clothing - what if you are just plain curious does that count?) during an operation in which its locked you can push the start button and pause the operation. If you push and hold for 3 seconds you can abort the whole mission.

Houston we have a problem!

A few tries with the lid and pause button and I get the feel of it.  I own this machine now.

Finally I am master of the washing machine. I changed the temperature selection, paused operation, unlocked the lid and checked the water. I still could not check the water while it was flowing in, but it was still dripping.  I even flipped over to spin and had the water pumping out of there.

It does sound completely different than the old one too. Different mechanical sounds from the motor. Maybe its voice will change in a few years.

Then a strange sense of pride and responsibility came over me.

At that very moment, in my basement, I knew I was the only one of the household that knew the operational details of the washing machine. The gatekeeper of the washing machine. I would need to prepare a tutorial for others.

I hope that I can calmly explain the operation to my wife. Maybe I should consult our daughters the teachers for guidance.

Oh, I just realized I gave all my attention to the washer. The dryer is also a new Whirlpool but maybe back in its development an Apple engineer was involved because it just worked. No need to open the manual on that one.

another circus

can you relate to this

If you remember the ad above then you must have noticed the big change in Super Bowl advertising over the years since Farrah and Joe filled up our smaller TV screens. As you might know Farrah is no longer with us. Broadway Joe is listed as 67 on his Wikipedia page.

As viewers, we have learned that 30 second ads costing 2 to 3 million dollars are typically worth watching. I learned from the Wikipedia page on Super Bowl advertising that DVR users will rewind to watch a Super Bowl ad. Also, Canadians complain that US ads are replaced with Canadian ones in the broadcast they receive.

Today, the Monday after the game, people will go to sites to watch the ads.  Why can't ads be that good more often?

Here's a site that has the ads and lets you embed them in your blog.  superbowl-ads

There has been games when I thought the ads were much better than the playing on the field.  Animals typical make great ads.   From office monkeys to beer loving lizards the animals offer good laughs.

Yesterday's game was good because it was so close.  I didn't care too much who won, I just like it when it can go either way until the end.

Even though I'm years away (hopefully) from living in a senior living facility, I have visited them and can related to the following ad which is my favorite.

"...42 wild Italians..."

What was your favorite Super Bowl ad?

(BTW - I'm still in an undisclosed location but I thought I might try putting out at least one post. Since I'm not on my normal routine, which is OK, I don't know when I'll post another one.)

slipping into the new year

Have you slid into the new year yet?

The time train is rolling along.  Sometimes it seems that it doesn't even stop to let us on or off.

No time for just grazing in the grass.

It's fun to roll along quickly at times.

But other times I like to reflect on the journey and just rock.

Well if you enjoy pictures from all around blogland check out Unknown Mami's Sundays in my City feature.

last responser

Just got a call - "so what's up" my daughter says.

"You called me. Why you asking me?" was my somewhat confused reply.

Daughter wanted to know if I could drop whatever and go watch this toddler who she often babysits because blah, blah.  Not too big of a deal, if it wasn't on such short notice.  I'm still processing the morning coffee, give me a little warning.
 
I'm not a first responser.  Makes me wonder how well fifty-something firemen or EMS people do.  One thing about being an ambulance driver though - you get to give people 'the ride of their life'.
 
Good thing I didn't jump on that request because within 5 minutes I got another call from mom-in-law.  She needed some online help with her tollway account.
 
There was a time in my life that I was on call.  It was during my Air Force career.  I didn't care for it much except we got to carry a radio with us (before cellphones kids) so that was kinda cool.  Also, a parent is always 'on call 7by24'.  So there was that.  But all my kids can drink now  (getting a call for a beer - that's a different story).
 
So if you are going to run out of gas, have a dead car battery, or get stuck in the snow, please provide at least 24hr. notice.  If you're calling to invited me for a beer well give me 30-40 minutes depending how far the bar is away.
 
Now where did I put that bottle opener?

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